Staff
Dr. Kim Cape - District Superintendent
Dr. Kim Cape grew up in the Rio Grande Valley,
graduating from Harlingen High School and the University of Texas
at Pan American in Edinburg. She graduated from Perkins School
of Theology with her M.Div and D.Min and was ordained Elder in
1980. She served local churches for 16 years and is currently
appointed to Austin as the District Superintendent. Spirituality
and spiritual formation have been a keen interest for many years.
Before being appointed as District Superintendent, Cape was appointed
to the Upper Room where she was sent to South Africa and Mozambique
to help start the Portuguese edition for Africa. She has served
as the Conference Spiritual Director for the Walk to Emmaus, Spiritual
Director for numerous Walks, and helped begin the Conference Spiritual
Formation Committee. She also authored a week of meditations for
the 2007 Disciplines published by the Upper Room. She was elected
to General Conference in 2000 and led our General Conference Delegation
in 2004. She enjoys bay fishing at Port Mansfield, playing golf,
and singing and playing music. Email address: kimcape@umcad.org
Administrative Assistant
Jill Barre - jill@umcad.org,
phone: 512.444.1983
Youth Ministries Coordinator
Amy Howell - amy@umcad.org
Program Assistant
Alice Edgar -
alice@umcad.org, phone: 512.442.9444
District Welcomes New Director
of Congregational Excellence
Rachel Wright has joined the district staff as Director of Congregational
Excellence. This is a full-time position and Rachel will be responsible
for programming, church transformation, and communications, as
well as providing leadership with student and young adult ministry.
Please join us in welcoming Rachel to the district and keep her
in your prayers as she begins her new job.
The first time I heard "Here I am, Lord," I was about
eight years old--as was the hymn itself. I stood in the balcony
at Travis Park UMC in San Antonio. I was attending the ordination
service at Annual Conference--and dreaming about the cookies and
punch that would inevitably follow the service--when we rose as
a congregation to sing this unfamiliar piece.
Never before had I heard urgency and passion expressed in song
like that. "Is it I, Lord?" the congregation cried.
"I have heard you calling in the night."
It was the first time that I had any understanding of a sense
of call.
At the time, my impression was
that most of the people in the room were clergy. Of course they
were urgent about God's call. Many of them had to pick up and
move the very next week.
My own parents, both full-time pastors, answered that call to
go where God led. And God led our family to St. Andrew's UMC and
later St. John's UMC in San Antonio, to Gaddis Memorial in Comfort,
and most recently to Oak Hill UMC here in Austin--where my husband
and I currently attend.
As a child, I hated each move. I thought I would never live without
the friends I had made in the last congregation. I was never going
to forgive my parents--or the bishop for that matter!
However, I know with each new church I have been surrounded by
an ever-widening circle of love and support--a circle that got
big enough to let me test my own limits a little bit.
When I graduated from Austin High School, I chose to study English
at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. From there, I moved to England
to pursue a master's degree in Creative Writing at the University
of London. I fell in love with that city and I fell in love with
Richard Stafford, whom I married in August, 2006.
While I was away, my younger sister experienced a call to ordained
ministry. My parents were excited for her and concerned about
me. They wondered if I would be hurt or jealous or left out of
what increasingly felt like "the family business."
So many of the people whom I hold closest to my heart are pastors
and I know it is an incredibly challenging job. It is not a job
that I have ever wanted.
But I made a mistake when I thought that that meant I had no call
to ministry. In fact, I made the same mistake that I had made
all those years ago at Travis Park when I thought that the only
ones who could sing "Here I am, Lord" with conviction
were clergy people. Indeed, I now realize that the lay people
surely outnumbered clergy that evening and that their voices were
just as sweet and strong.
We are not all called to be ordained. We are all called to ministry.
It is for this reason that I am incredibly excited to be working
for the Austin District. I look forward to the work that we will
do together--lay and clergy, men and women, children and adults,
you and me. I look forward to learning your faith stories. I look
forward to getting to know you better as, together, we seek to
answer God's call for the church in our community.
In this difficult, thrilling time of transformation, I will hold
you in my heart as I hope you will hold me in yours.
Rachel
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